Royal Navy's new 'stealth' destroyer HMS Daring makes her home port debut

Blackleaf

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The Royal Navy's newest warship, HMS Daring, arrived at her new home of Portsmouth for the first time ever today.

HMS Daring is the first of six new Type 45 destroyers for the Royal Navy, the largest and most powerful air defence destroyers ever operated by the Royal Navy.

She is the eighth ship named Daring operated by the Royal Navy, the first being a 12 gun brig built in 1804.

The Type 45's are half as big as the destroyers currently operated by the RN and much more powerful, designed to, hopefully, make the Royal Navy a much more fearsome proposition.

Each ship - the world's most advanced warships - is being built in Britain and each costs a staggering £1 billion.

It doesn't look it, but HMS Daring is armed with a staggering array of deadly firepower, and has a radar that can track objects the size of tennis balls moving at three times the speed of sound - so she'll be hard to hit.

The latest Type 45 destroyer to be completed is HMS Dragon, which has an image of a big red dragon painted on her sides.

Royal Navy's new 'stealth' destroyer HMS Daring makes her home port debut


By Daily Mail Reporter
28th January 2009
Daily Mail


The Royal Navy's newest warship, built at a cost of £1 billion, sailed into its home port for the first time today.

HMS Daring, the world's most advanced destroyer, was officially handed over to the navy last month after work was completed at the BVT Surface Fleet's Scotstoun shipyard on the River Clyde.

The 7,350-tonne ship will be the first of the Royal Navy's series of six Type 45 destroyers.

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The new Type 45 stealth destroyer HMS Daring sails into Portsmouth Harbour today




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Daring was met at Portsmouth Naval Base, Hampshire, by a 15-gun salute as well as by families and friends of the ship's company.

Hundreds of members of the public also lined the harbour walls to welcome the ship.

The ship features the latest propulsion, anti-aircraft weapon and stealth technology.

The Type 45 destroyers have nearly twice the range - about 7,000 miles - and are 45% more fuel-efficient than the Type 42 destroyers they are replacing in the £6 billion project.

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The Royal Navy's newest warship HMS Daring at anchor in the Solent today

It is capable of sailing 3,000 nautical miles, operating for three days and returning home without the need to refuel.

The ships are to be armed with a new hi-tech missile system renamed today as the "Sea Viper", formerly known as the Principal Anti-Air Missile System (Paams).

The Sea Viper system, in conjunction with the ship's Sampson Radar system, is capable of tracking hundreds of targets as far as 250 miles away and engaging up to 10 of them simultaneously.

Daring can operate various helicopters, including the Chinook, embark 60 Royal Marines and is able to accommodate up to 700 people as part of an emergency evacuation.

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HMS Daring is the world's most advanced destroyer

It has a crew of 191 and generates enough electricity from its gas and diesel engines to power a city the size of Leicester.

The ship has been fitted with improved accommodation for ratings include larger bed spaces and less beds per room than previous destroyers.

Daring was launched from BVT's facility in Scotstoun by the Countess of Wessex in January 2006.

Since then it has undergone three sets of contractor sea trials.


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Fog on the water: HMS Daring enters Portsmouth Harbour today

It will now undertake an intensive sea trials programme for the rest of the year, with a formal commissioning ceremony due to take place in the summer with a target of formal acceptance into service by late 2010.

A flypast by Royal Navy and RAF aircraft took place as Daring entered Portsmouth Harbour.

Quentin Davies, minister for defence equipment and support said: "HMS Daring is one of the most advanced ships ever built and along with the five other Type 45s will be one of the essential pillars of the Royal Navy in the 21st century.



Controls: A petty officer sits in front of a bank of screens in the Operations Room


"Today is a special day for the Royal Navy, the city of Portsmouth and her dockyard, the crew of HMS Daring and all those involved in building her, as one of the most powerful warships in the world enters her home port for the first time.



Commanding officer: Captain Paul Bennett


"It is with great pride that I have been able to witness the first arrival of HMS Daring into Portsmouth today."

Defending placing such a large investment into a single warship, Mr Davies added: "This is a very flexible warship and I can see her as being of immense use to the defence of the nation in a variety of scenarios.

"She is not a one-trick pony, she is the opposite of that."

Speaking of the missile system, Mr Davies said: "The newly named Sea Viper, a world-leading missile system will allow the ship to detect her prey, target it and issue a deadly strike."

Daring's commanding officer Captain Paul Bennett added: "Daring is a good-looking, large capability platform. She is an illustration of the talent and capability of British shipbuilding.

"Today provides a fitting opportunity to mark the first entry into Portsmouth of a new class of destroyer for over 30 years.

"It's been a fantastic event to mark the passage of this great warship into her home port and we look forward to a successful year of sea trials before embarking on operations."


HMS DARING SPECIFICATIONS

LENGTH - 152.4m

BEAM - 21.2m (max)

DISPLACEMENT - 7,350 tonnes

RANGE - 7,000 nautical miles

STORES - 45 days

MAX SPEED 28+ knots

COMPLEMENT - 190 (max 235)



HMS DARING FACTS
  • More than 2.25 million man hours have been spent fitting out the ship
  • The hull structure is made of 2,800 tonnes of steel - more than the weight of the Blackpool Tower.
  • Approximately 40 tonnes of paint have been applied to cover an area of 100,000 square meters of steel.
  • The Sea Viper air defence missile is the size of a public phone box, weighs almost as much as a small car and from launch accelerates to a speed twice that of Concorde in under 10 seconds.
  • HMS Daring, pictured here leaving BVT on the Clyde in 2007
  • Daring's 152m length is equivalent to more than 16 buses and she is as high as an electricity pylon.
  • The ship's onboard power plant can supply enough electricity to light a city the size of Leicester.
  • Its fuel tanks have a volume equivalent to approximately half that of an Olympic swimming pool.
  • Daring contains 220 beds, 26 sofa beds, 22 single beds and has its own hospital facilities complete with operating table.
  • Trials: HMS Daring on the River Clyde
  • It is fitted with one bath, 44 showers, 54 toilets and 100 wash basins.
  • Enough carpet has been fitted to cover nearly two five-a-side football pitches.
  • It is fitted with enough electrical cable to circle the M25 motorway three times and has 404 telephones onboard.

telegraph.co.uk
 
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Said1

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Apr 18, 2005
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I was just gonna say "Puttin' on airs is not very classy in these tuff economic times'.

They looks like they're outfitted with cardboard, which would be fitting in light of their present economic predicament. Cardboard could be considered 'stealth' too, wouldn't it? :D
 

Spade

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Nov 18, 2008
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I guess Britain needs something to keep Bermuda in line. Britain wouldn't want to lose it as a colony or Europe would question the need for one of its poorer sisters to call herself Great; they'll insist "Britain" is enough.
PS
It the boat's a dud maybe they'll offer to sell it to us?
PPS
I though Britain passed the mantle of empire onto the States?
 

darkbeaver

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Jan 26, 2006
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I was just gonna say "Puttin' on airs is not very classy in these tuff economic times'.

They looks like they're outfitted with cardboard, which would be fitting in light of their present economic predicament. Cardboard could be considered 'stealth' too, wouldn't it? :D

It's already obsolete but it should serve well enough to sweep the Islamic Armadas, even now poised to invade Britain, from the waters pissed in by fat old drunk Britainia. All that money and they stand on the quays waving at it like it was something to be proud of, it's a useless tool of useless tools. Pretentious bastards.:lol: